Tidal heating, which is basically gravitational heating of a planet via tides, suggests that the number of habitable planets could be roughly half of what was previously thought. Tidal heating could shrink the habitable zone around the Milky Way’s most numerous stars, red dwarfs.

Tardigrades are microscopic animals, which are among the few lifeforms on Earth capable of surviving the intense radiation, temperature extremes and complete vacuum of outer space. Their eggs can also survive the depths of space, possibly hatching on other planets after having traveled interstellar distances.

Researchers have discovered a veritable microbial oasis, under the Atacama Desert in Chile. The region is known for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), but the discovery of a hypersaline subsurface microbial habitat, associated with halite-, nitrate-, and perchlorate-containing salts, lying at a depth of 2m in the driest desert on Earth will give scientists more reasons to visit the region.

Trace elements in extrasolar systems might influence the evolution of habitable zones around their stars, where carbon-based life as we know it might dwell. Most stars are made up of hydrogen and helium gas, but there still remain traces of heavier elements, like metals, that are inherited from the remnants of older stars or forged by stellar fusion.